Public Sector Rich List- Tax Payers Alliance

Key findings in the Taxpayers Rich List



There are 387 people receiving remuneration packages of £150,000 or more a year across 140 government departments, quangos, other public bodies and public corporations, up from 300 people on the 2007 Public Sector Rich List. (Note that this excludes local government, who are published on their own TPA Rich List every March. The 2008 Town Hall Rich List identified 88 people earning over £150,000 a year.)


There are 4 people in the public sector who earn more than £1 million a year, up from 1 person earning above £1 million last year.


There are 21 people in the public sector earning above £500,000 a year, up from 17 on last year's list.


There are 88 people earning above £250,000 a year, up from 66 on last year's list.


There are 194 people earning more than the Prime Minister, whose salary is £189,994, up from 142 on last year's list.


The 387 people on our list had an average pay rise of 10.9 per cent between 2006-07 and 2007-08. This is three times average earnings growth (including bonuses) across the country, which is currently around 3.5 per cent.


The average total remuneration of the 387 people on the list is almost £240,000 per annum. This works out at over £4,600 a week. Although many people on the list are likely to work longer, based on a 35-hour week, this is equal to over £130 an hour, or around £2.15 a minute.


These remuneration packages can be compared with a soldier earning around £20,000, a nurse earning £23,000, the average Chief Executive of a small company earning £65,000, and the average Chief Executive of a medium-sized company earning £122,000.


The 10 most highly paid people in the public sector earn almost £1 million on average, which is around 50 times the amount earned by someone starting out as a police officer, nurse or soldier.


The report features a list of the top 10 rewards for failure, including highly paid officials from HMRC (which lost 25 million people's personal data); the Financial Services Authority (which presided over the worst financial crisis since 1930); Northern Rock; the QCA and other organisations which have failed the public.


The report includes a list of 10 people working for the three bodies responsible for regulating the financial system – the FSA, the Treasury and the Bank of England - who have overseen the financial crisis. Their remuneration packages average almost £400,000 per annum.


A special list is also included of 24 executives who have presided over embarrassing losses of personal data over the past year. Their average remuneration package was over £190,000 per annum.

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